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THE CHURCH AND 
ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL 
PROBLEMS 


e 


American Section 


Report of Commission II 
to 


THE UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE 
ON LIFE AND WORK 


HELD IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 
August 19-30, 1925 


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UNIVERSAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE 
ON LIFE AND WORK 3 


Commission Reports 


The Church’s Obligation in View of 
God’s Purpose for the World. 


The Church and Economic and Industrial 
Problems. 


The Church and Social and Moral Prob- 
lems. 


The Church and International Relations. 
The Church and Education. 


Methods of Co-operative and Federative 
Efforts By the Christian Communions. 





GENERAL PREFACE 


A few words should be written about the inception of The Universal 
Christian Conference on Life and Work. In the summer of 1919 the 
International Committee of the World Alliance for International Friend- 
ship Through the Churches met at The Hague. This was the first meet- 
ing of an international character held after the signing of the Armistice, 
if one excepts a small gathering of labor leaders. About sixty leaders of 
the Churches were present, representing nearly all the Protestant Com- 
munions and most of the countries of Europe. Ten or twelve delegates 
were present from America. 


The meetings at The Hague developed so sweet and reasonable an 
atmosphere, at a time when great bitterness prevailed everywhere, and 
the delegates present expressed themselves so strongly as to the un- 
Christian character of war and the necessity of establishing a world order 
on a new and Christian basis, that several of the delegates felt strongly 
that the time had come for the Churches officially to get together and 
say what these Churchmen semi-officially were saying. As a result 
Archbishop Soederblom of Sweden, Dr. Charles S. Macfarland of 
America, the Dean of Canterbury, Dr. Henry A. Atkinson and others 
held an informal meeting to discuss the possibility of bringing the 
Churches of the world together for a Conference, where the Churches 
could utter their united conviction on international matters and all other 
matters with which society would have to deal if the reconstruction of 
civilization and the building of a new and better civilization on the 
ruins of the old, which lay all about them. 


This preliminary meeting was not altogether spontaneous for on two 
separate occasions during the progress of the war, Archbishop Soeder- 
blom had communicated with the Churches of Europe and America re- 
garding the possibility of such a conference and the Federal Council of 
Churches of Christ in America had suggested that a Conference of the 
Federated bodies of Churches in all the countries might meet together 
after the war. The unanimous opinion of the unofficial group at The 
Hague was that a committee should be appointed to bring the leaders of 
the Churches together with the aim of convincing them of the necessity 
of such a world gathering of the Churches ,and asking them to take the 
matter up with their respective denominations. This committee went 
from The Hague to Paris and brought together as many of the leaders 
of the Churches as possible upon such short notice. This meeting be- 
came greatly interested in the project and requested Dr. Frederick Lynch, 
Chairman of the Committee on Ecumenical Conference of the Federal 
Council of Churches of Christ in America to arrange for a preliminary 
meeting of the Churches the following summer. 

Dr. Lynch proceeded from Paris to London and had several inter- 
views with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. F. B. Myers, Dr. Thomas 
Nightingale, Dr. J. H. Shakespeare and others. Meantime, Archbishop 
Soderbloom undertook to interest the Scandinavian Churches and Dr. Choisy 


III 


the Swiss Churches. Sufficient interest was aroused to warrant the calling 
of a preliminary Conference at Geneva in the summer of 1920; 


As a result of the procedures recorded above, one hundred delegates 
assembled at Geneva in August of 1920. A three days session was held 
and the Conference gradually began to assume shape. Great interest 
was manifested and all present expressed themselves to the effect that 
the Church Universal had a great opportunity to exert a determining 
influence upon the new order that must follow the war. Furthermore 
the world was waiting for some great pronouncement from the Churches 
upon such questions as war and peace, the industrial order; such im- 
mediate problems as those having to do with intemperance and vice 
and upon all ethical and moral questions. It was felt that a positive 
and commanding utterance of the Churches in these trying years would 
do much to encourage a disheartened world and would make it much 
easier for those who were trying to reconstruct the world on a Christian 
basis to carry on this high task. There was much confusion in the world 
as to just where the Church did stand on these great problems disturbing 
the minds of men. The conviction was expressed that only as the rule 
of life laid down by the gospels became the law of nations could any 
hope for security and peace be found or the great sores of the world be 


healed. 


Furthermore it was felt by all that whatever new international ma- 
chinery might be set up or whatever new industrial order might arise, 
it was only as these were permeated by the spirit of Jesus Christ that 
they would fulfill the high hopes of their founders. It was also strongly 
felt that two great blessings might ensue from such a Conference. On 
the one hand all individual communions would profit by this period of 
common intercourse, especially those communions that had greatly 
suffered from the war. They would be made strong in the conscious- 
ness of the oneness of all Christ’s disciples. On the other hand the 
coming together, if only for a month, of all the Churches of the world, 
to cooperate in the common task of redeeming the world order, and to 
make some great common pronouncement on the place of Christ in our 
civilization would be a great object lesson to the world. 


At Geneva a large International Committee was set up which was 
divided into four groups, one for America, one for the British Empire, 
one for the European Protestant churches and the fourth representing the 
Orthodox Eastern Church. The International Committee appointed a 
smaller Executive Committee, which held three meetings in successive 
years, one at Peterborough, England, one at Zurich, Switzerland and 
one at Amsterdam, Holland. In August, 1922, the International Com- 
mittee itself met at Helsingborg, Sweden, and was very fully attended 
by delegates from all the communions and nations. At this meeting 
the programme for the Conference assumed final shape. It was voted 
that the program for Stockholm should include the following groups 
of subjects: 


IV 


The Church’s Obligation in view of God’s purpose for the world. 

The Church and Economic and Industrial Problems. ; 

The Church and Social and Moral Problems. 

The Church and International Relations. 

The Church and Christian Education. 

Methods of Co-operative and Federative Efforts by the Christian 
Communions. 


The reports which followed are in fulfillment of this vote taken at 
Helsingborg. In April, 1924, the full Committee met again at Birming- 
ham, England, in connection with C. O. P. E. C. and reviewed the 
progress made upon the reports and dealt specifically with plans for the 
Stockholm meeting. . 


This is in brief the history of The Universal Christian Conference on 
Life and Work, and is the explanation of the reports which follow. 
These reports have been prepared with great care by the leaders of the 
Churches and by experts in the several questions discussed. They are 
submitted to the Conference in the hope that the Conference will receive 
them in the same spirit in which they have been written, i.e. in the 
endeavor to find the common consciousness of the Churches upon these 
subjects and to voice its united feeling. 


Cita ei 


as 


LIST OF COMMISSION MEMBERS 


Chairman 


REV. SHAILER MATHEWS, D.D., LL.D., 
Dean of Divinity School, University of Chicago. 


Secretary 


REV. WORTH MAIIPPY, D:D: 
Executive Secretary, Commission on the Church and Social Service, Federal 
Council of the Churches of Christ in America. 


5 


Members 


ALEXANDER, REV. W. W., D.D. 
Secretary, Commission on Interracial Cooperation, Federal Council of the Churches 
of Christ in America. 


BATTEN, REV. SAMUEL ZANE, D.D. 
Secretary, Social Education Department, American Baptist Publication Society. 


BOWIE, REV. W. RUSSELL, D.D. K 
Rector of Grace Church, New York. Member of Department of Christian Social 
Service, Protestant Episcopal Church. 


BRUNNER, REV. EDMUND de S., Ph.D. 
Director of Town and Country Surveys, Institute of Social and Religious Research. 


CARNER, MISS LUCY P. 
Industrial Secretary, National Board of the vaune Women’s Christian Associations. 


COLEMAN, W. C. 
President, Coleman Lamp Company, Wichita, Kansas. 


EDDY, SHERWOOD, LL.D. 
Fellowship for a Christian Social Order. 


FREY, JOHN P. 
Vice-President, International Labor Press Association of America. 
Editor, International Molders’ Journal. 


HARLAN, REV. ROLVIX, D.D. i 
Head of Department of Sociology and Social Ethics, University of Richmond, 
Virginia. 


HERRING, REV. HUBERT C. } 
Secretary, Commission on Social Service, National Council of Congrgational 


Churches. 


HOLT, REV. (ARTHUR is bh: k 
Department of Social Ethics, Chicago Theological Seminary. 


HOWARD, EARL DEAN, Ph.D. 
Labor Manager, Hart Schaffner & Marx. 


JOHNSON, REV. F. ERNEST 
Director, Department of Research and Education, Federal Council of the Churches 
of Christ in America. 


JOHNSON, MRS. LUKE, G. : 
Director, Woman’s Work, Commission on International Cooperation, Federal Coun- 
cil of the Churches of Christ in America. 


JONES, BISHOP ROBERT E. 
Bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church. 


VI 


KLINE, JAMES W. 


General President, International Brotherhood of Bl i 
Helpers; Editor, Blacksmith’s yournal. mrimiehe att St CT 


LATHROP, REV. CHARLES N. 


oo Secretary, Department of Christian Social Service, Protestant Episcopal 


LINGLE, REV. WALTER L., D.D. 


Professor of History, Pedago and Missions i i 
Paeeond, Vireintn BY at Union Theological Seminary, 


MATHER, SAMUEL 
Senior Member of firm Pickands, Mather & Co. 


McCONNELL, REV. FRANCIS J., D.D., LL.D. 
Bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church, 


McCULLOCH, MISS RHODA 
Secretary, National Conference on the Christian Way of Life. 


McDOWELL, REV. JOHN, D.D. 
Secretary, Division of Church Extension and Missions, Presbyterian Board of 
National Missions. 


MULLAN, REV. JAMES M. B. D. 
Executive Secretary, Commission on Social Service and Rural Work, Reformed 
Church in the United States. 


PAGE, KIRBY, CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 
Fellowship for a Christian Social Order. 


PEABODY, GEORGE FOSTER, LL.D. 
Chairman, Penn Normal and Industrial Institute. 


RIPLEY, MRS. IDA S. 


ROBINS, RAYMOND, LL.D. 
Lecturer and Social Worker. 


SHEFFIELD, PROFESSOR ALFRED D. 
Secretary, Industrial Commission, National Conference on Christian Way of Life. 
Professor of Debate, Wellesley College. 


SIMKOVITCH, MRS. MARY K. 
Head Worker, Greenwich House, New York. 


SMITH, REV. FRANK A., D.D. 
Secretary of Missions, American Baptist Home Missionary Society. 


TAYLOR, REV. ALVA W., D.D. 
Secretary, Board of Temperance and Social Welfare, Church of Christ (Disciples). 


TOWSON, CHARLES R. 
Deering, Milliken & Co. 


VAN KLEECK, MISS MARY 
Director, Department of Industrial Studies, Russell-Sage Foundation. 


WARD, REV. HARRY F., A.M. ‘ ; ; 
Professor, Christian Ethics, Union Theological Seminary; Secretary, Methodist 


Federation for Social Service. 


WILSON, REV. WARREN H., D.D., LL.D. 
Director, Town and Country Department, National Board of Missions of the 


Presbyterian Church. 


Vil 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Introduction. 


The Economic and Industrial Background and Progress. Eco- 
nomic individualism and political independence coincident—dis- 
appearance of the frontier—Intensification of competition—Negro 
migration to the North—Agricultural conditions—A new era open- 
ing—Labor not’ yet acceptedsin principle. 2) oe ee 


Progress in Labor Status and Welfare. Advance in welfare of 
workers—Improved status of workers—Increasing attention to 
labor management—Growth of work’s councils—New appreciation 
of human factors—Influence of women in industry. ......2....-cces--cee- 


Attitude of Organized Religion. Pronouncements following the 
War—Social Ideals of the Churches—Work of “The Inquiry”’— 
Work of the great denominations—Industrial Conferences by the 
Federal Council of Churches—The Information Service—The 
Interchurch WorldigM ovienie sit ses ee ee 


The Industrial Order in the United States. Difficulty of reporting 
the judgment of the Christian community—What is meant by the 
industrial order—Industry characterized by stresses and strains— 
Statement by the United States Commission on Industrial rela- 
tions—This statement .will be challenged—Large numbers of 
establishments; havennomtrot bl Canc. 2 eee aeee ee es eee 


The Purpose of Industry and the Profit Motive. Common motive 
is profits—The historic purpose in human needs—Ethical validity 
of profit questioned—Meaning of the word service—The ideal of 
stewardship—Economic gulf between the classes. -........-..-.--c-cceseeceeeeees 


The Competitive System. Competition a motive and a method of 
selection—Control of prices by Competition—Competition a des- 
tructive force—competition a permanent factor—Control by co- 
operative principle—Labor as a commodity—Labor and the law 
of supply and ‘demand; 2) ee ee ee 


Economic Alternatives. The economic order a complex—Can be 
changed only gradually—Progress by dealing with specific prob- 
lems over periods of time—Delusion of ultimates—Patterns of 
ECONOMIC /OTGAMIZA CLO Me Reese eee ae cee cee a eee nee ee 


Collective Bargaining and Arbitration. Not a simple question of 
right and wrong but a way of action—Statement by Conference 
on Ethical Forces in Advancing Standards—Tendency away from 
force by labor unions—Value of voluntary arbitration—Constitu- 
tional ‘government /in industry growing... 


The Open Shop Movement. Growth of “The American Plan’— 
The plan criticized—Criticism) of ithesUnion»Shop. 2 eee 


Employee Representation. Stimulated by the War—Permanent 
value and present tendencies—Profit sharing—Has not made much 
headway in: the:/United ‘States! 2 Ue 2 ee eee 


The Cooperative Movement. Growth in fruit industry—Spiritual 
influences/at work—Significance in farming. i+ 2 ee 


VIII 


10 


11 


13 


14 


15 


16 


ee —— 


Public Ownership in the United States. Mainly in public utilities 
—Hindered by political control—Growing efficiency—Nationaliza- 
tion of Mines and railroads—Sentiment unfavorable as a whole. 


The Opportunity of the Churches. Opposition to entrance of 
churches into industrial field—Welcomed by progressive employers 
—Function of the church in industry—Effect of five years of 
effort—Crusade against the twelve hour day in steel—The great 
service of the church to give leaders and a “lifting purpose 
greater than the struggle of materialism”—Passing of the class 
struggle into the method of the Kingdom of God e..............1-ssseeeeeees 


Appendix I. The Social Ideals of the Churches..........02.22.....-.--- 


Appendix II. Industrial Government in the Clothing Industry 
OMNI RTE OA le i e  gi e  S  e 2 


Bibliography on the Church and Economic and Industrial Prob- 
lems. The bibliography deals mainly with American publications 
but includes foreign books largely circulated in the United States. 


IX 


17 


19 


xi 


xii 


Xiv 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2021 with funding from 
Columbia University Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/churcheconomicinOOuniv 


THE CHURCH AND ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL 
PROBLEMS 


An account of the relation in the United States of America to the 
economic and industrial life of the nation must begin with a word con- 
cerning the background of the present industrial situation in this coun- 


try. There is reason to believe that this situation is not fully under- 
stood abroad. 


The Economic and Industrial Background and Progress 


The year 1776 witnessed two events, significant for American history, 
not commonly thought of as related—the signing of the Declaration 
of Independence and the publication of Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Na- 
tions.” The era of economic individualism which the latter publication 
ushered in was intensified in América by coincidence with the establish- 
ment of a new political state. What happened in England due to the 
synchronizing of the industrial revolution with the development of a 
new laissez-faire philosophy of industry and trade was reproduced in 
America, with the difference that it was greatly enhanced by the nat- 
ural influence of a pioneer environment and the absence of binding 
social traditions. Thus, in America, during the Nineteenth Century in- 
dustry came to be characterized by an excessive individualism, con 
tinually reinforced by a beckoning frontier which made it possible for 
any enterprising individual, whether capitalist or laborer, to push into 
unexploited fields whenever he became hampered by competition or by 
restraints imposed by the community. The characteristic American 
ideal—a spirit of independence and intolerance of restraint, not un- 
commonly manifesting itself in aggressive non-conformity—is directly 
related to the fact that our history is that of a new country where the 
processes of socialization have been slowed down by the aggressive- 
ness and success of individual enterprise. 


But since the disappearance of the frontier, a decade or so before the 
end of the Nineteenth Century, the American industrial system, as it 
were, turned in upon itself. Competition has grown keener; labor 
has been inflated by an enormous influx of immigrants and has had 
to struggle collectively for an adequate share of the product. This 
struggle has been intensified by a competition of Negro with white labor, 
and latterly by a reversed tide of agricultural labor from the country to 
the city. The last two factors have been accentuated by the War, which 
has brought hundreds of thousands of Negroes into Northern industrial 
cities and has also greatly lessened the profitableness of farming because 
of the slackened market abroad for agricultural products, the speculative 
rise of farm values, and the rises in cost of farm labor and machinery 
during and immediately following the war. Not only so, but the plight 
of the farmer has occasioned a marked conflict between rural and 


Mate Bs 


urban labor interests. The country is in conflict with the city. An 
agrarian political movement has appeared to which certain liberal ele- 
ments in the labor movement have allied themselves for the advocacy 
of special legislation, the development of the co-operative movement, 
the curtailment of corporate privilege and the reorganization of credit, 
policy.- This movement is however still young and weak, and has been 
checked by better conditions on the farms and the conservative swing 
of the election in 1924. 

A reversal of our long established immigration policy has enormously 
cut down the supply of unskilled labor; this may prove to be the most 
significant recent change in our national life, tending to sharpen the 
competition for industrial labor and to accelerate still further the 
stream of farm labor toward the cities. 

The developments here sketched have probably ushered in a new era 
in American industrial life. Yet the adjustment in thought and attitude 
which they have rendered necessary is as yet backward. Many 
American business men still cling to that individualism which resulted 
from boundless resources and unhampered enterprise which no longer 
exist. New legislation for the protection of labor is still opposed in- 
stinctively by most employers. Labor organization has not yet been 
accepted in principle by most employers although there are large areas 
of industry where labor relations on a union basis work smoothly and 
in the main satisfactorily. The trade unions unfortunately do not put 
before the public sufficiently the constructive side of unionism. The 
public tends to know only its controversial aspects. It is regarded 
by many employers as an evil to be avoided if possible, or to be resigned 
to if necessary and it receives also a considerable public hostility. 


Progress in Labor Status and Welfare 


The industrial situation in the United States as a whole, however, 
both at the present time and looked at over a period of years, shows 
marked progress. Labor organization has greatly increased in num- 
bers and power, and in participation in national affairs. There have 
been great advances in the wages, living conditions, education, safety 
and health of the workers. In mining it is not legal in most states to 
work over eight hours a day, and a network of legal and union safe 
guards to life and health and for the protection of children and women 
have grown up. The same is true of the railroads, where due to 
organization and legislation and to a more considerate policy of admin- 
istration, the entire service has been lifted within a generation as to 
hours, wages, home life, moral standards and participation in control. 
This is also true in most industries. Eight states now have the eight 
hour day. Fourteen states have minimum wage legislation for women. 
Most states prohibit the labor of children in non-agricultural pursuits 
up to fourteen, and surround minors up to sixteen, eighteen and twenty- 
one with protective restrictions as to hours, night work, educational 


beds hid 


requirements, health, safety and morals. The Federal laws of 1916 and 
1919 set a minimum standard of fourteen for entrance into factories, a 
higher age in certain industries, and an eight hour day a forty-eight 
hour week and prohibition of night work between fourteen and six- 
teen. The steel industry, which with notable exceptions among the so- 
called independents, has until recently pursued a backward policy in 
regard to a long work day, a seven day week and autocratic relations, 
has nevertheless developed stability in this basic industry and phenom- 
inal achievements in safety, health, education and intelligent community 
organization. Similar advances have been made in most industries in 
the matter of safety appliances on moving machinery, lighting, air 
space, sanitary provisions, and fire hazards. The burden of accidents 
no longer falls exclusively upon the worker and his family, and increas- 
ingly strong industries provide as a part of the system not only against 
accident, but for sickness and through group insurance against death, 
One entire industry, the men’s garment industry, has introduced a 
mutual scheme of unemployment insurance, and a number of individual 
concerns are doing the same, while the states of Wisconsin and Mas- 
sachusetts are considering state systems of unemployment insurance. 

In general it must be said that American industry is now charac- 
terized by an increased interest in “morale” and by behaviour on the 
part of employers which indicates a growing appreciation of the human 
factor in industrial relations, and the principle of cooperation. The 
conviction is growing that the hazards of large scale production are 
bound to increase, that the period of unregulated pursuit of profits has 
passed and that surety, stability and honest service to the public should 
be the main objects of effort. 

American industry is also in plastic condition allowing exceptional 
ireedom for experimentation, due to the fact that it has not as yet set 
in moulds as in older and in some respects more advanced industrial 
nations of Europe. New methods in scientific technique, organization, 
labor relations and welfare are constantly appearing, and the world 
may expect advances along fundamentally capitalistic lines, involving 
important adjustments to social control, as well as experiments of the 
socialistic type. The organization of the men’s garment industry is 
a bold stroke towards cooperative relations in the form of indus- 
trial unionism, and towards the control of both intermittency and 
unemployment. Under the leadership of the Department of Com- 
merce, the whole problem of the business cycle, seasonal work and 
other forms of intermittency, are being studied with a view to ultimate 
control. Many corporations are stimulating the purchase of their stock 
by employees and the consumers. These are hopeful illustrations of a 
capitalist society setting about the study and control of its own evils 
and the perfecting and democratizing of its own organization. 

The participation of women in industry was emphasized, though not 
greatly accelerated by the war, and women’s labor organizations are 
now among the potent factors in the labor movement. The influence 


of women upon industrial standards has been greatly augmented by 
their political enfranchisement. One of the conspicuous recent evid- 
ences of this new force in American affairs, is the support by the 
great national organizations of women of the newly proposed Child 
Labor Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Favorable action has 
at last been secured on the part of Congress, and if the amendment is 
finally ratified by the states the way will be open for control by statute 
and finally the abolition of this long continued evil. In the development 
of protective legislation for the workers, women have played an in- 
fluential part. 


The Attitude of Organized Religion 


With respect to the attitude of organized religion toward industrial 
problems it may be said that the American churches have passed 
through a period of formulating ideals and making pronouncements 
which have come to be fairly widely known. A recent assembling of 
such pronouncements disclosed the fact that nearly seventy have been 
issued in the course of the last decade and a half. Foremost among 
them, so far as Protestantism is concerned, is the document known 
as The Social Ideals of the Churches—sometimes referred to as the 
Social Creed—which was promulgated by the Federal Council of the 
Churches in 1908, and to which a series of interpretive resolutions was 
appended in 1919, (Appendix I). In a general way it may be taken as 
representing liberal Protestant opinion in America, although the need 
of its revision and extension is recognized. The Roman Catholic 
Bishops Program of Social Reconstruction, adopted in 1919, is a very 
important statement on industrial questions. It reflects a change in 
emphasis from abstract ideals to the dynamics of ethical progress in 
industry. 

There are indications, however, that the interest in mere pronounce- 
ment-making is less than formerly. There can be no doubt of the value 
of the pronouncements that have been made in challenging attention 
and securing the interest of groups outside the churches who needed 
some direct evidence that the Church is interested in their problems. 
These utterances have also encouraged and sustained many a minister 
who was working single-handed for the recognition of the relation of 
Christianity to industrial and economic issues. Now, however, we are 
less interested in anything approximating a formal creed and more in- 
terested in specific applications of accepted Christian principles to spe- 
cific situations. We are more concerned, as was said by a liberal em- 
ployer “To throw a blazing light on the next steps to be taken.” The 
ideal of a living wage for example, is not considered as clear as it once 
seemed to be. There is no increased disposition to discredit it as a social 
ideal but there is much inquiry into the meaning of that ideal in terms 
of definite standards for concrete situations. The tendency has an evident 
relation to the preoccupation of present day educators in America with 
“behaviour” as against mere ideas. 


ees 


Further, men and women, many of whom are responsible leaders of 
Christian churches and others of whom are not expressly identified 
with the churches, are coming together for serious inquiry into the 
meaning of Christianity for definite life situations. The recently organ- 
ized group called the “Inquiry” is using the method of group discussion 
for the evaluation of standards of conduct. Its interest is not limited 
to industrial and economic questions but these are central in its re- 
searches and discussions. This undertaking is additional evidence that 
the Christian conscience in America is becoming sensitive not only on 
the question of stewardship but with reference to the sources and uses 
of wealth and power. 

But the churches themselves are deeply interested in these questions, 
and have been since the pioneering days of Gladden, Strong and Pea- 
body. It is a hopeful feature of American religious life that the most 
aggressive programs of social action affecting religion in industry 
have come from the churches themselves, that is from their stated 
teachers and organizations. This has been especially true of the 
northern Baptists, Congregationalists Disciples of Christ, Methodist 
Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, northern Presbyterians, 
Protestant Episcopal, the Reformed, Church in the United States, 
Unitarians and Universalists. The Methodist Federation for Social 
Service, organized in 1908, has devoted itself to the more radical phases 
of reconstruction, especially to its educational aspects, and has had great 
influence not only upon its own denomination but upon the other Pro- 
testant communions. The great mission boards of the American 
churches, both home and foreign give serious attention to industrial 
populations and industrial problems, as also the curricula of religious 
education. The northern Baptists, Congregationalists, Disciples, north- 
ern Methodists and Episcopalians have well staffed departments de- 
voted exclusively to social work, with usually a major interest in 
labor and the problems of industry. The curricula of the theological 
seminaries of these churches and the educational work of their young 
peoples societies are fairly well socialized. The Congregationalists 
and Methodists collaborate in the production of Sunday school courses 
in this field, and the southern Methodists to a more limited extent. The 
northern Baptists have produced a notable literature centering 
in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, the Rochester 
Theological Seminary in which Walter Rauschenbusch was a teacher, 
and the Department of Social Service of the Publication Society of 
Philadelphia. The northern Presbyterian Board of National Missions 
may be said to have pioneered in the better relating of the churches to 
industrial populations and to the organized labor movement. It was 
through their initiative that represenatives have been sent for years 
by the Federal Council of Churches of the Churches of Christ in 
America to the conventions of the American Federation of Labor, and 
that fraternal delegates from Ministers Associations in cities are sent 
to Central Trades and Labor Councils. The Toledo Council of Churches 


talk AAV 


also receives delegates from the Central Labor Union. Chicago Com- 
mons, connected for many years with the chair of Social Economics of 
the Chicago Theological Seminary, has had a powerful socializing influ- 
ence in the middle west. It is perhaps unfair to refer to these particular 
seminaries without reference also to the attention which is being given 
to the same problems at Garrett, Yale, Boston, Cambridge, Union, and 
other seminaries. : 

The Federal Council of the Churches, through its Commission on The 
Church and Social Service, together with the social service departments 
of its constituent bodies, have for the last four years been carrying on 
numerous community and industrial conferences attended by ministers, 
employers, labor leaders, teachers and social workers, looking toward 
a better understanding and fuller cooperation between employers and 
employees, and toward the preparation of pastors to interpret Christian 
principles to those engaged in industry. These conferences have reach- 
ed the organized life of communities, such as churches, colleges, 
chambers of commerce, labor temples, high schools, luncheon clubs and 
women’s organizations. A significant feature has been the opening 
of pulpits on Sundays to progressive employers and representatives of 
labor. 

The Young Men’s Christian Association has also been holding many 
conferences in the same field, adhering mainly to the non-controver- 
sial aspect of industrial relationships, but also entering somewhat into 
the technical problems of industrial management in relation to labor. 

The Young Women’s Christian Association has accompanied its work 
with industrial women and girls by a program of education on industrial 
questions throughout its constituency and by participation in legislative 
activity. Its unique contribution has been its endeavor to make of its 
membership a fellowship of women of varied experiences in which the 
experience and point of view of the industrial group serve to interpret 
the meaning of industrial problems in human lives, and in which their 
needs have found expression through the policy of the organization as a 
whole. 

The Federal Council of Churches has also organized a Depart- 
ment of Research and Education, an agency for the study of industrial 
and economic events and movements with a view to interpreting them 
to its constituency as they bear upon he progress of Christianity and 
the opportunity of the Church. It publishes a weekly Information 
Service of fact material in industry, race relations, rural economics and 
international affairs for use of pasters, editors, teachers and lay social 
workers. The Roman Catholic Church has made an important con- 
tribution during the last two years in the organization of the Catholic 
Industrial Conference. Jewish groups have likewise taken a new 
interest in industrial questions, and on several occasions, Protestants, 
Catholic and Jews have addressed themselves jointly to some outstand- 
ing industrial issue. It should be noted also that several of the large 
denominations in the United States are offering extensive opportunities 


- 
yi 


ee oe 


for the continuous training of their clergy, and readjusting their com- 
munity contacts through Pastors’ Summer Schools. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, for example, had above 2000 pastors in such 
schools during the Summer of 1924, 

No adequate account of the American Church’s relation to industry 
could leave out the achievement of the Interchurch World Movement, 
which made an exhaustive study of the great steel strike in 1919 and 
published in its findings in a volume, and later a second volume, that 
attracted country-wide attention. It is recognized as. an important 
contribution to the literature of labor relations as well as an evidence 
of the ability and readiness of a great official religious organization to 
enter a highly controversial field and bring out the essential facts 
with a degree of accuracy that is surprising in view of the newness of 
this field for religious effort. Lesser investigations have been made 
since that time, although in general it is felt that the research equip- 
ment of the churches should employ itself mainly in secondary study 
—that is, in authenticating and interpreting the findings of various 
specialized agencies of research and investigation. 


The Industrial Order in the United States 


We come now to a discussion of economic and industrial problems 
from the point of view of the Christian Church and with the American 
Church particularly in mind. The framers of this report acknowledge 
the impossibility of reporting in any authoritative way the judgment of 
the Christian community in this country. The consensus is still much 
less impressive than the dissensus. We are able only to record our own 
convictions, which we believe to be in accord with the trend of Christian 
opinion in the United States. 

Even a cursory glance at modern industry discloses the fact that it is 
characterized by stress and strains, by discontent and strife. This 
condition and its causes have had classic statement from the labor point 
of view in the report of the United States Commission on Industrial 
Relations. Having been created by Act of Congress, August 23rd, 
1912, the report carries especial significance. We quote the following 
from the report: 

“The sources from which this unrest springs are, when stated in 
full detail, almost numberless. But upon careful analysis of their real 
character they will be found to group themselves almost without ex- 
ception under four main sources which include all the others. The 
four are: 


“1. Unjust distribution of wealth and income. 

“2. Unemployment and denial of an opportunity to earn a living. 

“3 Denial of justice in the creation, in the adjudication, and in 
the administration of law. 

“4 Denial of the right and opportunity to form effective organiza- 
tions. 


Pas [pee 


“The conviction that the wealth of the country and the income 
which is produced through the toil of the workers are distributed 
without regard to any standard of justice is as widespread as it is 
deep-seated. It is found among all classes of workers and takes every 
form from the dumb resentment of the day laborer, who, at the end 
of a week’s back-racking toil finds that he has less than enough to 
feed his family, while others who have done nothing live in ease, to 
the elaborate philosophy of the “soap-box orator,” who can quote 
statistics unendingly to demonstrate his contentions. At bottom, 
though, there is the one fundamental, controlling idea that income 
should be received for service and for service only, whereas, in fact, 
it bears no such relation, and he who serves least, or not at all, may 
receive most. | 


“As a prime cause of a burning resentment and a rising feeling of 
unrest among the workers, unemployment and the denial of an oppor- 
tunity to earn a living is on a parity with the unjust distribution of 
wealth. They may on final analysis prove to be simply the two sides 
of the same shield, but that is a matter which need not be discussed at 
this point. They differ in this, however, that while unjust distribu- 
tion of wealth is a matter of degree, unemployment is an absolute 
actuality, from which there is no relief but soul-killing crime or soul- 
killing charity.” 


This description would not be accepted by many competant observers 
as an accurate portrayal of the present situation in industry in the 
United States, as not taking account of the favorable situation of labor 
in this country as compared with other lands, and as not duly appreci- 
ative of the progress which has taken place, which has been sketched 
in a previous section of this report. It must be recognized also that 
there prevails among American employers a general irritation at the 
demands of labor, a feeling that industry is shackled and made wasteful 
by union practices and regulations, a resentment against radical pro- 
paganda within the ranks of labor which engenders hatred and slacken- 
ing of effort, and an attitude of unfriendliness to the labor movement 
as a whole growing out of an individualistic philosophy and the friction 
and losses arising from labor troubles. 


It must be kept in mind also that there are thousands of industrial 
establishments, particularly the smaller ones, of which there are a vast 
number in America, in which these problems are not visibly present, and 
one might visit many shops, especially in unorganized industries and 
find comparative peace and an absence of hostile feeling. This is 
especially true where employers have had the vision to avoid suspicion 
and hostility by following the Golden Rule in their relations with their 
workmen. Furthermore, there has been a general increase in the pros- 
perity of the wage workers since the war and the establishment of pro- 
hibition. 

The studies of the National Industrial Conference Board find that 


sigzs 


beginning with an index number of 100 in 1914, by June 1920 cost of 
living had reached a peak of 203 and hourly earnings 248. The index 
number of “real” hourly earnings was therefore 122. In June 1923 
“real” earnings had reached an index number of 140. Research Report 
Number 62, p. 32. 


Nevertheless the indictment by the United States Commission on 
Industrial Relations must be recognized as pertinent and to a disturbing 
extent justified by the facts. 


The Purpose of Industry—The Profit Motive 


It is against this background that we must consider the purpose of 
industry which we are asked particularly to discuss from the Christian 
point of view. It has been said in defense of the industrial regime that 
since the purpose of an industrial establishment is to produce goods, it 
is irrelevant to introduce any other criterion of judgment. On the other 
hand, it has been asserted by critics of industry that its true purpose 
is the more abundant life of the people. Again it is urged that the 
purpose of industry is to make profits for the owners. It seems ap- 
parent that no such thorough-going distinction can be maintained. 
Probably few exponents of these several opinions would defend them 
to their logical conclusions to the exclusion of other considerations. 


Even if it were admitted that efficiency of production is one 
standard by which an industry should be judged, it must just as 
inevitably face a test growing out of its effect upon human life. The 
significance of the whole personnel movement in industry and business 
lies just here, that human relationships have come to be as definite a 
factor in success as in any technical element in the process. Industrial 
leaders seem to be alive to this fact and the crux of the situation in 
America is in the contest between labor unionism on the one hand 
and other forms of labor relations on the other, to determine which will 
survive in the effort to secure the willing cooperation of labor in the 
production of goods. The labor movement itself is impressive evidence 
of the large part played by human and personal factors in our economic 
life. 

As for the contention that the purpose of industry is to make profits, 
we must distinguish between rewards in the sense of nfarket value 
of labor or of money, and profit in the economic meaning of the term. 
There is a disposition today within the Christian community to question 
the ethical validity of pure profit in the economic sense, that is, a return 
from business enterprise or a business transaction that is quite beyond 
and separate from the “going rate’ upon invested capital and the 
“wages of superintendence.” In practice, speculative enterprises de- 
mand a return according to the risk involved without reference to the 
question whether the enterprise is socially legitimate or to the further 
question whether, granted that it is legitimate, the risk involved should 
not be socially insured. Although most would accept, probably few 


Set oe 


critical minds would attempt to justify by a Christian standard the 
enormous profits which are frequently reaped from fortunate invest- 
ment and which are often dependent upon values created by the com- 
munity, when it is impossible to show any corresponding service which 
the community has received. It is increasingly questioned by many 
in church circles how the accumulation of profits in the economic 
sense— a gain in addition to the normal reward for service rendered— 
can constitute a tenable motive from the Christian point of view. 


We feel strongly, however, that economic motives should be re-ex- 
amined by Christian people from a New Testament point of view. When 
thus scrutinized it is difficult to see how there can be more than one 
answer to the issue raised. It is contained in the familiar concept of stew- 
ardship, which is given great attention in the United States by church 
boards in their efforts to increase giving to Christian causes. But unfor- 
tunately that word seems to have lost its major signification—namely, 
that for the Christian, private property, strictly speaking, does not exist, 
as it does not exist, absolutely, for any citizen. He does not own prop- 
erty: he holds it in trust for God. There is clearly no agreement among 
American Christians as to the consistency of the accumulation of large 
fortunes with the Christian view of wealth, but Christianity plainly 
requires that wealth shall be accumulated by a corresponding service; 
and that if one has come into the possession of wealth, it becomes at 
once a social trust. Going beyond this, many Christians are disturbed 
by the great gulf that has come to exist between the rich and the poor, 
not only because of the sufferings and privations of those at the bottom 
of the economic scale, but because of the spiritual isolation which the 
possession of wealth in the face of others’ poverty brings to those at 
the top. In any case, it is from the Christian’s point of view axiomatic 
that if the existence of large fortunes is held to be essential to the con- 
servation of the social surplus, then it becomes the spiritual responsi- 
bility of those to whom this stewardship falls to use their wealth as a 
tool rather than to wear it as a garment, and to recognize that steward- 
ship is not alone a responsibility to God, but also directly to society. 


The Competitive System 


The next problem to which the inquiry brings us is that of the moral 
quality of what we commonly call the competitive system. Probably 
this is too formal and abstract a term, for there are varieties of competi- 
tion and they do not represent an organized system so much as an 
accumulation of human tendencies which stand out in sharp relief as 
they appear in relation to industry and trade. Here again there are 
widely variant views, within the Christian community, of the moral 
quality of common practices and attitudes. 

We feel warranted in saying that competition on the lower economic 
level, which results in perpetual insecurity and a low standard of life— 
competition for work which forces wages to a level too low to sustain 


aay howd 


a good life, or competition between business concerns whether national 
or international which jeopardizes sound and basic industries, is against 
public welfare. A Christian society should devise a better method 
of securing an adaptation of means to ends than one that inevitably 
makes the satisfaction of human needs a matter of hazardous enterprise. 

The conditions which beset human life on the earth are such as to 
make struggle between individuals and groups and institutions as inevit- 
able as their cooperation. The educational problem is therefore to win 
the thought of all to the common good, and to make cooperation the 
controlling spirit and method. There is a type of individualism from 
which mankind cannot escape no matter what collective enterprises 
it may embark upon. It calls for the attainment by individual men and 
women of spiritual excellence, a disciplined life, a consecrated will and 
a habit of sacrificial service. All social effort is ultimately dependent 
on the spiritual functioning of the personal life. It cannot be too 
Strongly maintained that the Christian view of business and industry 
is not predicated upon an out and out substitution of altruistic for 
egoistic attitudes and motives, but upon a synthesis of these elements 
of life in what may be called a process of socialization. If cooperative 
methods come to prevail where now individual initiative is dominant 
it must be because of the demonstrated practical value of these methods 
for getting things done, and because of their better effect upon human 
life. It is here that the Christian view of industry and trade clashes 
with the prevailing economics. The business community as a whole 
still clings to the classical economics that treats labor as a commodity, 
although the idea that labor is not a commodity and must not be treated 
as such, now has the sanction of law and increasingly of public opinion, 
especially of church opinion, in the United States. The Christian in- 
dictment against this doctrine is not merely that it is morally wrong, 
but that it is scientifically unsound. Economics has been treated too 
much as a material science and not enough as a human science. Our 
newer school of economists, which goes by the designation, “Institu- 
tionalist,’ makes recognitior of human factors in associated living and 
working which the older economics ignored. From this school or- 
ganized religion is receiving invaluable aid in its attack upon evils in 
industry in whose defense a mechanistic theory has been advanced 
and stoutly maintained. The arbitrary rule of the law of supply and 
demand is gradually being humanized and corrected as men come to 
see that freedom and self expression and the impulse to mutual aid are 
as elemental in life as the quest of food and shelter. 


Economic Alternatives 


A discussion of the merits of our economic order brings us naturally 
to the consideration of what are commonly called possible alternatives to 
the present system. We feel that it is a mistake to think of the economic 
order in such definite and objective terms. It is not a unit thing to be 
accepted or rejected, to be voted in or out, but a complex of habits, at- 


hig Fao 


titudes and value-judgments which, barring social catastrophe, can be 
modified only by a gradual process of experiment, education and patient 
discipline. Least of all can we balance our present system against one 
abstraction after another which may be put forward as substitutes for 
it and decide with any degree of assurance what is the best solution of 
our social problems. Nothing is better established with reference to 
past efforts at reform and reconstruction than that the mere adoption of 
a program and the bestowal of authority upon its exponents inevitably 
occasions a recasting of the scheme itself in the interest of practicable- 
ness and in order to face the realities of life. It should go without say- 
ing, of course, that tentative goals and trial patterns must be made use 
of in the interest of definite and measurable progress but such goals 
and patterns must be regarded as means to a spiritual end which out- 
lives all structural devices. 

In place of a formal evaluation of conceivable alternatives to the in- 
dustrial order as such, we offer a brief review of what seem to be the 
most fruitful lines of experimentation in this country and to suggest the 
most promising fields of further effort. 

It is of first importance to note that progress is achieved not by super- 
imposing some device upon industry or trade or education, but by deal- 
ing with specific conflicts over opposing interests or opposing ideas in 
such a way as to remove obstacles to cooperative activity and to bring 
about an integration of purpose in the light of better understood aims. 
Thus we progressively overcome friction in our social machinery and 
release new energies for creative work. This fact supplies us with a 
criterion for testing the many devices that are constantly appearing in 
business and industry for the purpose of promoting stability or of secur- 
ing recognition of some group interest. 

It is at this point that religious idealism tends to part company with 
the doctrinaire idealism of social radicals. The latter are so preoccupied 
with their role as custodians of an ultimate collective pattern for indus- 
trial life, that they make it a matter of loyalty to the pattern to 
treat as enemies all who do not share in their vision of it. It is this 
static element in their psychology that commits them to a catastrophic 
theory of social change, where other idealists look to change by social 
engineering. ; 

Much difficulty has been experienced in the past by religious and other 
idealistic groups which have approached the industrial question from 
the viewpoint of ultimate right and wrong and have felt that any pre- 
occupation with expedients savored of compromise and was a move in 
the direction of second-best rather than best ends in industrial recon- 
struction. We strongly feel that principles of action must be held in 
higher esteem than rules or mechanisms that are aimed at carrying out 
preconceived notions of what our industrial order should be. An ex- 
amination of particular methods in concrete situations is the only. 
adequate method of ascertaining what Christian ideals imply with 
respect to industry. 


—13— . 
Collective Bargaining and Arbitration 


The first fact that faces us in a survey of the instruments of industrial 
change is the institution of collective bargaining through trade unions. 
Unfortunately the significance of the trade union in this connection is 
often eclipsed by the industrial warfare which goes on intermittently 
between organized labor and its employers. This warfare is admittedly 
a matter of grave concern and careful students of American industrial 
conditions who are wholly sympathetic with the aspirations of labor 
have been led to point out the necessity of a more cooperative attitude 
on the part of labor and the assumption by the unions of a larger 
measure of responsibility. We quote from the report of the Conference 
on Ethical Forces in Advancing Standards in Industry of the National 
Conference of Social Work, submitted at Toronto in July, 1924: “Even 
the issue of collective bargaining cannot be settled objectively in accord 
with any slogan that either group in industry may invent. It is not a 
simple question of right and wrong: it is a way to industrial action 
along which the parties to industry must negotiate their passage in a 
spirit of give and take. Is it any wonder that we are marking time 
in the matter of securing recognition of the principle of collective bar- 
gaining when we try to prescribe it as a duty rather than as a highly 
experimental undertaking which indeed promises large rewards but only 
on condition that a high price is paid in terms of responsible, energetic 
action and good faith? Collection bargaining may mean much or little. 
To be sure, it is of more than ordinary use as an ideal principle of 
action for the reason that it is essentially dynamic rather than static. 
But to insist that an employer must recognize a union is of little use or 
meaning save as the question is asked, “To what end’? The more 
progressive labor unions recognize this fact. They understand that in 
this connection, as in every other, self-determination has no moral 
quality save within the sphere of socially creative effort.” The signers 
of this report include able representatives of the labor movement. 

Latterly, there have been many evidences among labor organizations of 
a tendency to depend less upon force and to accept a larger measure of 
responsibility for the maintenance of efficiency and the safeguarding of 
production, and to have a greater regard for the interests of the com- 
munity as a whole. The development of trade agreements through 
which such responsibilities are taken by organized labor is one of the 
most hopeful signs in American industrial life. Experiments are now 
under way, which will be watched with the greatest interest, looking 
toward joint industrial government in which the owners and workers 
in an establishment and the labor union to which the latter belong are 
partners in the enterprise. 

Arbitration is an instrument very frequently employed to secure and 
maintain industrial peace. We think that the principle of arbitration 
should be very closely scrutinized. When it is simply the yielding of 
two parties to the will of the third party there is little that can be called 


me TAa 


constructive in the process. We quote again from the Committee on 
Ethical Forces in Advancing Standards in Industry: “Arbitration has 
little in it to commend from the ethical point of view, unless it is a 
device self-imposed, merely as an instrument in the process of social 
adjustment within industry. When imposed by the community it may 
perhaps be justified as an emergency measure but it is essentially a 
negative and anti-social procedure because it puts an end to the only 
processes that can result in true solutions; it is terminal and static, 
not creative.” 

We are working out in America, however, an approach to what is 
sometimes referred to as constitutional government in industry through 
arbitration machinery jointly maintained and operated for the continu- 
ous government of industries under trade agreements. Illustrations are 
found in the impartial chairmanship maintained in the garment industry 
and in such national agreements as those in the newspaper business 
between publishers and printers, in the glass industry and the stove 
and heater industry. The superiority of this type of procedure rests 
not only upon the possibility of preventing stoppages but upon the 
recognition of the workers’ status and the progressive establishment of 
a constitutional basis of industrial government. 


It is pointed out by sympathetic observers of these new developments 
that their danger is in the possibility that they may degenerate into 
merely mechanical and legalistic devices, giving undue consideration to 
precedents and thus developing new forms of waste and failing to dis- 
cover true equalities and to liberate new energies. It should be recog- 
nized also that the institution of the impartial chairmanship has even 
greater possibilities in the way of informal mediation and conciliation 
than in the more formal office of deciding issues that have resisted 
informal efforts at adjustment. 


The Open Shop Movement 


The legitimacy and value of trade unionism in the United States has 
been largely obscured of late by the Open Shop Movement. It is called 
by its promoters, The American Plan, and is in essence an effort to 
break or forestall the control of the union in shops and trade. It is 
directed first of all against the closed or entirely union shop. Theo- 
retically, the open shop is consistent with dealing with regular union 
organizations, so long as they do not demand the closed shop; but in 
practice the Open Shop Movement is often an attack upon unionism, a 
most bitter and uncompromising attack. There is little value in belong- 
ing to a union if a worker is discharged when he attempts to organize, 
or if the employer refuses to meet his men collectively. As was remarked 
by one of our economists, “it would do him about as much good as to 
belong to a golf club.” 

However, the closed or strictly union shop—in which none but union 
men can work—in so far as it rests upon coercion is questionable in 


a ae 


Christian ethics and probably also is not necessary in union tactics. 
The Railway Brotherhoods have never demanded it, and great unions 
like the International Blacksmiths have succeeded: without it. When 
a union shop is brought about by agreement without coercion, as is 
frequently done, it is a practical plan to which the religious spirit can- 
not lodge objection. The claim of the union to support by every worker 
who participates in the gains which union action has secured is valid. 
The use of coercive measures, however, to secure recognition of this 
principle is to be depreciated. There is need on all hands of reliance 
on Christian methods, even in times of industrial conflict. 


Employee Representation 


Employee representation is a device that was given considerable im- 
petus by the War. It is sometimes carried on under a trade union 
agreement but commonly in America today it is regarded especially in 
labor circles as an alternative to trade union collective bargaining. It 
is perhaps not possible to render a fair judgment concerning this system 
because it has had but limited trial. In many cases employee represen- 
tation schemes have been attempts to forestall trade union organization, 
but others are forward looking experiments in industrial democracy. 
Many of them are in industries which were not organized. No interest 
in labor morale can be permanently fruitful that does not spring from 
a deep respect for the workers themselves and a concern for their rights 
and interests. We believe, however, that no matter how imperfect a 
system of employee representation may be, any plan which provides 
for the judicial hearing of grievances and for the meeting of manage- 
ment and men as a matter of right and custom for the discussion of 
common problems is vastly superior to an autocratic form of industrial 
government. There is ground for the hope that autocracy is gradually 
giving way in this country, both as result of the pressure of the labor 
movement and in response to an active public opinion. 


There has been a considerable development of profit sharing among 
large and important concerns. It has received interesting expression 
by a Western employer who holds that, for his best work, every em- 
ployee must possess both craftsmanship and proprietorship, the latter 
taking the form not only of stock ownership but of the certainty of 
receiving his share of the prosperity of the enterprise. It is interesting 
to note that, significant as the principle of profit sharing is, it has 
seemed to affect the industrial situation in America but slightly. The 
theory that a worker is entitled not only to his wages but to a share in 
the profits without regard to the ownership of stock has plainly far 
reaching consequences. The operation of the plan in America, how- 
ever, has been continually under the shadow of disapproval and sus- 
picion on the part of labor because it not always worked out fortunately 
and has been considered an effort to purchase loyalty without the 
delegation of power. Regardless of the justification of this attitude, we 


ak, |’ Vaan 


have here an evidence that money rewards do not by themselves meet 
the problem of industrial relations. Underlying all other interests of 
organized labor is the demand for self-determination. 

Appendix II. Government in the Clothing Industry of Chicago. 


The Cooperative Movement 


The cooperative movement ‘has received much impetus in the last few 
years, particularly in agricultural communities. Its usefulness as a 
means of eliminating the middleman’s profit where no corresponding 
service is rendered, is not to be questioned. In the fruit industry of the 
Pacific Coast for example its usefulness in standardizing quality and 
assuring stable markets, has been demonstratd. Studies are being made 
at the present time to determine what the cooperaive movement has to 
offer in the way of raising the level of business and industrial relation- 
ships. Naturally up to this time the purely commercial aspects of co- 
operative processes have been dominant in these movements, but there 
are evidences also of the working of spiritual forces. 


One of the major social tasks awaiting us in America is the solution 
of some of the problems of agricultural economics. We have already 
taken note of the forces that tend to array agriculture and industry 
against each other. The primal difficulty would seem to be a confusion 
over status. While in urban industry a line is sharply drawn between 
employer and owner on the one hand and worker on the other, the 
farmer, whether owner or tenant, scarcely knows whether his proper 
affinities are with labor or with capital. The farm owner is one of the 
hardest of workers and research economists say that the real income 
of the owner and tenant as a rule represents labor and not income from 
invested capital, yet he is is frequently an employer of labor and a 
payer of wages. He is, therefore, in first hand contact with some of 
the elements of the labor problem. Yet, during recent years his difh- 
culty in marketing his goods and the hardships which he suffers due 
to the high prices of manufactured products makes him anything but 
sympathetic with business and industry. 


This situation results in a measure of bitterness among American 
farmers which is perhaps quite as sharp as that which is engendered in 
industrial conflict. By analogy to the industrial situation, it would seem 
that, just as the right of organization and the development of group con- 
sciousness on the part of employers on the one hand and workers on 
the other is a prequisite of the highest form of group service, so in 
agriculture the farmers must find their place in the entire scheme of 
production and distribution and must develop a group consciousness 
comparable to that of the craft or professional guild before they can 
properly and usefully cooperate for the improvement of production and 
the enrichment of rural life. The most immediate need of the situation 
would seem to be a better understanding on the part of industrial em- 
ployers and workers and of the urban community in general of the 


eet) fy poe 


conditions of the farmer’s life and the problems of rural development 
and reconstruction. 


Public Ownership in America 


Public ownership in the United States is limited almost entirely to 
public utilities in cities, such as electric light, gas and water plants, a 
few street railways, subways and ferries, a very small railway mileage 
in the State of Virginia and in Alaska, and a temporary partnership 
in ship owning and operation growing out of the enormous merchantile 
marine which was created by the Government during the War. Mu- 
nicipal ownership of public utilities has had a checkered career, due to 
political control in most American cities, but with a noticeable and 
even rapid improvement in municipal administration, has come also 
increasing efficiency in the handling of such utilities. Few cities own- 
ing them will ever go back to private ownership. 

The movement towards nationalization of the basic industries of coal 
and the railroads, for years a purely academic question in the United 
States, has received great reinforcement by the advocacy of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor, and became for the first time a serious 
political issue in the last campaign. The Plumb Plan for the railroads 
and the plan proposed by the United Mine Workers for the mines, 
provide for public ownership but show a distrust of public operation. 
Each plan proposes control of these industries by a board of directors 
representing the government, the technicians, and the organized 
workers. Neither, however, has been adopted, but are still in the stage 
of discussion. 

On the whole it must be recognized that operation of industries by 
the state, and all forms of state socialism, have had a distinct set back 
in public opinion, due partly to the experience of the War and partly 
to the development of Communism in Europe. The impression, due in 
part to propaganda, but also to the sincere objection based upon careful 
study of the facts, prevails, that state operation of public utilities, such 
as railroads in Europe, has not shown the initiative nor the economic 
advantages of private enterprise. 

We would record our belief in the efficacy of certain auxiliary influ- 
ences tending to improve industrial relations and pointing toward a 
more satisfactory industrial order. In this connection reference should 
be made to the Business Problems Group of the Philadelphia Yearly 
Meeting of Friends, composed largely of employers, which is seriously 
undertaking to study the problems of its own members with reference 
to specific proposals for improvement. Some of these employers have 
voluntarily submitted to a critical study of their plants in order to 
discover methods of further incorporating their Christian principles 
in the conduct of their enterprises. A similar undertaking was launch- 
ed two years ago by the Business Men’s Group of the Ethical Culture 
Society. A significant effort is also being developed in the state of 
Wisconsin under the leadership of the Congregational Church, but now 


ik: (ee 


receiving the cooperation of other denominations, which is bringing 
together ministers, employers, workers and economists to study indus- 
trial conditions in the State and to promote good feeling and coopera- 
tion between employers and employees. Serious attention is also being 
given to the subject in the Sunday School curriculum for adult classes, 
and in mission study courses. 

Civic, commercial and professional associations are also manifesting 
an interest in ethical problems of industry which is not without 
promise. Many Chambers of Commerce have broadened their social 
outlook although most of them are mighty “capitalistic”. Some of them 
seek labor representation in their membership and are working for 
industrial good will, as for example in Seattle and Boise. Most Cham- 
bers now interest themselves in city planning, zoning, community chests 
and other social projects. Thousands of luncheon clubs, which are a 
striking feature of American business life to be found everywhere even 
in small communities, emphasize the service motive, offer opportunities 
for discussion of public questions and are generally interested in local 
social projects. There is a marked tendency at present to formulate 
business codes, notable among which are those undertaken under the 
auspices of the Federal Trade Commission and the United States 
Chamber of Commerce. A most significant* event also took place 
recently in Washington under the leadership of the Department of 
Labor, when the paper box manufacturers of the country decided of 
themselves to eliminate Sunday work and to introduce the eight-hour 
day. ‘These are illustrations of hopeful tendencies. 

Workers’ education, a comparatively new development, is recognized 
in America as an important force for progress. It is now in the critical 
position of determining whether it shall be a movement for technical 
and cultural education having its affinities with the entire community 
or a narrower movement representing only class interests. Both ten- 
dencies are apparent. The future must determine. The teacher may 
perhaps feel that he should meet his student where he is on the basis of 
his actually felt desire, trusting to the experience of study to liberalize 
the worker as the study course proceeds. There is undoubtedly here 
an extraordinary opportunity for leadership on the part of religious 
and social workers and of teachers of economics, sociology and political 
science, whose services are welcomed by these groups of working 
people who are seeking a larger life. The church group has shown a 
hopeful initiative in the projection of these schools in a few centers. 
Such participation, however, is not likely to rob the workers of initiative 
end leadership in a movement which they themselves have brought 
into being. 

Closely related to this movement is that of labor research, which is 
one of the most important of the more recent developments in the in- 
dustrial field. It is the basis not only of a new educational effort within 
the labor movement but the basis of an appeal to knowledge rather 
than to force. 


ing (0 pales 
The Opportunity of the Churches 


Our final word has to do with the opportunity that faces the churches 
in the United States. The function of the church in relation to industry 
has been somewhat clarified by the discussion and experimentation 
which has followed the war. It must be said that the entrance of the 
church into the industrial field has occasioned much controversy. It 
has been received by most employers with either skepticism or unfriend- 
liness, sometimes in like manner by labor and by a considerable element 
of the church itself. The question of competency has been most often 
raised, but also the more fundamental question of the right of the 
church to teach in this field. 


On the other hand, the churches have had the encouragement of 
progressive employers who are working seriously at the problem of the 
Christian spirit in their industries. Their position was well stated five 
vears ago by a well known employer before a conference of church 
leaders, employers, union officials and economists, who had been 
brought together by the Federal Council of the Churches to discuss 
the industrial policy of the Council. “The influence of religion,” he 
said, “is absolutely essential to any constructive solution of the indus- 
trial problem, and the churches must undertake to teach regardless of 
the misunderstanding which arise. We employers will try to force you 
off the field, but you must not allow yourselves to be forced off. The 
human and ethical problems involved are within the comprehension of 
the average pastor if he will read and become familiar at first hand with 
local establishments.” 


The conference was of the opinion that the first task of the church 
would be to think through its own function and responsibility, and to 
assist pastors in their preparation to teach. This has been the serious 
task of the Federal Council and the departments of Social Service of 
its constituent denominations’ ever since, and the primary purpose of 
industrial conferences, Information Service, and books, pamphlets and 
reports which have been issued by the Federal Council. 


The years which have followed have shown the soundness of the 
points of view expressed at this conference in 1920. It must be confessed 
also that they have brought a sobering realization of the lack of unity 
of the Church of Christ and the utter unreadiness of many pastors to do 
effective teaching. Nevertheless, the confidence of the churches in 
their ability to contribute seriously to the education of public opinion 
and to the setting up of authoritative Christian standards in industry 
itself, has grown with experience. The public also has been awakened 
to the influence of the churches, and none understand it better than 
those who look with misgivings or hostility upon their activities in the 
industrial field. , 

A noteworthy demonstration was made in 1923 in connection with 
the crusade against the twelve-hour day in the steel industry that moral 
opinion alone can work changes in the economic and industrial world. 


pelle) Six 


The United States Steel Corporation declined to introduce the eight- 
hour day, at the request of President Harding, but the marshalling of 
public sentiment which was occasioned by the protests of religious 
bodies, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, brought about a change of 
policy within a few weeks. 

The churches clearly have an opportunity for service in this field 
that has not yet been measured. Prophetic preaching, ethical teaching 
which is not confined to abstractions but is based upon concrete life 
situations and forms of service to industrial communities by local 
churches, will make the churches a potent influence in industrial recon- 
struction. ‘The trend is steadily in this direction. 


But the great service which the church can render, it becomes more 
and more apparent, will not be in the realm of economics, but in one 
more difficult and vital. It will be to give to American industry, as 
Mr. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of the Federal Department of Com- 
merce, has said, “A lifting purpose greater than the struggle of materi- 
alism.” It is to inspire business to take its place beside religion, 
education and medicine in the struggle for the more abundant life of 
humanity; and to contribute to both labor and capital the new leader- 
ship which is best described in the parable of the Good Shepherd. The 
church- possesses the power, at least the latent power, to evangelize 
society with the spirit of cooperation and to set that spirit at work to- 
morrow in factory, agriculture, merchandizing and commerce. Society 
has reached a stage in which it becomes increasingly possible to sub- 
stitute research and cooperation between groups and classes for the 
class struggle. We must recognize the fact of the class struggle, and 
that class organization is inevitable, but the conquest of one class by 
another, the inculcation of hatred, the reliance upon force, and the 
stimulation of the spirit of violence must give way to the spirit and 
method of the Kingdom of God. 


APPENDIX I. 


The Social Ideals of the Churches 


Action Taken by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America 


at a Special Meeting Held at Cleveland, Ohio, May 6-8, 1919. 


RESOLVED: That we reaffirm the social platform adopted by the first 
ee pe eli in Chicago, 1912, and ratified by the Second Quadrennial in St. 
ouis, ‘ 


That the churches stand for— 


I. 
ine 


Lit 


IV. 
V. 


VI. 
VII. 


XIII. 


XVI. 


Equal rights and justice for all men in all stations of life. 


Protection of the family by the single standard of purity, uniform 
divorce laws, proper regulation of marriage, proper housing. 


The fullest possible development of every child, especially by the pro- 
vision of education and recreation. 


Abolition of child labor. 


Such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as shall safeguard 
the physical and moral health of the community. 


Abatement and prevention of poverty. 


Protection of the individual and society from the social, economic and 
moral waste of the liquor traffic. 


Conservation of health. 


Protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational 
diseases and mortality. 


The right of all men to the opportunity for self-maintenance, for 
safeguarding this right against encroachments of every kind, for the 
protection of workers from the hardships of enforced unemployment. 


Suitable provision for the old age of the workers, and for those in- 
capacitated by injury. 


The right of employees and employers alike to organize; and for ade- 
quate means of conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes. 


Release from employment one day in seven. 


Gradual and reasonable reduction of hours of labor to the lowest prac- 
ticable point, and for that degree of leisure, for all which is a condition 
of the highest human life. 


A living wage aS a minimum in every industry, and for the highest 
wage that each industry can afford. 


A new emphasis upon the application of Christian principles to the 
acquisition and use of property, and for the most equitable division of 
the product of industry that can ultimately be devised. 


—Adopted at Cleveland, O., in 1919, 


APPENDIX II. 
Industrial Government in the Clothing Industry in Chicago 


Establishment of the present system of joint government in the men’s cloth- 
ing industry dates from the settlement of the Chicago strike of 1910.. By the 
terms of that settlement, put into effect in 1911, the manufacturing firm of Hart, 
Schaffner and Marx, one of the largest in the industry, agreed to the formation 
of a joint board of arbitration with power to work out means for the settlement 
of any future grievances. On this foundation has grown the present structure. 

During the eight years, from 1911 to 1919, the plan providing impartial 
machinery became more firmly established, more complete in detail. In 1919 
plans of government similar to that worked out in Hart, Schaffner and Marx 
were adopted for the entire Chicago Market. 

The establishment of order in the ranks of this one firm in Chicago followed 
a period of chaotic struggle in an industry presenting unique and grave prob- 
lems. The clothing industry was highly seasonal, most of the employers were 
small contractors and competition among them was intense. The labor ranks 
were composed largely of immigrants striving to find a place in the new world, 
exploited by the competition and the tragic recurrence of unemployment. 

Labor organization was attempted and for a time the United Garment Work- 
ers did manage to gain some power, but it was unable to bring order to the 
troubled state of the industry. Failure of the officers of the union to secure 
desired improvements in wages and working conditions and their termination 
of certain strikes without obtaining the relief sought and without the acquiesc- 
ence of the rank and file, caused suspicion and dissatisfaction within the union 
ranks. 

After the strike of 1910 a new path was followed in the shops of Hart, Schaff- 
ner and Marx. In order to work out a system of joint government, leadership 
was required on both sides. A labor manager was employed by the company, 
a man outside the industry, who could therefore come to the problems involved 
without prejudice. Prof. Earl Dean Howard of Northwestern University became 
the pioneer of this new type of labor manager. 

Sidney Hillman, a young Russian Jew employed as a cutter in one of the 
Hart, Schaffner and Marx shops came into leadership among the workers dur- 
ing the 1910 labor troubles and later took a prominent part in the working out 
of the plan for joint government. With the labor group organized in the Hart, 
Schaffner and Marx shops as the nucleus, the workers in the men’s clothing 
industry seceded from the United Garment Workers in 1914 and with Sidney 
Hillman as leader formed the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 
organized on industrial rather than on craft lines. This union is independent, 
not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and is one of the most 
powerful in any industry. 

The plan as put into operation in the shops of the Hart, Schaffner and Marx 
Company, has been amended and revised as the experience of the years has 
pointed the way. It provides for shop representatives, one elected by secret 
ballot by the union members of each shop for an indefinite term of office. All 
employes who are members of the union are entitled to vote and are also eligible 
for election. Four (or more if necessary) deputies are appointed by the union, 
representing each branch of the trade, (i. e. cutters, coat makers, trouser mak- 
ers, vest makers) who devote all their time to assisting in the carrying out of 
the provisions of the agreement on behalf of the union. They devote all their 
time to union duties and are paid by the union. The company appoints such 
deputies as may be necessary in carrying out its side of the agreement. 

A Trade Board, originally designed to include eleven members, five appointed 
by the union, five by the management and a neutral chairman appointed by the 
Board of Arbitration, was provided for, but for several years the activities of 
the Trade Board have been carried on by the Chairman alone. The Chairman 
holds office during the term of the agreement, and the agreements have since 
1913 been renewed, revised and amended as desired every three years. 

A rate Committee handles piece-rate making functions and is composed of 
three members, one selected by the employes, one by the management and the - 
chairman of the Trade Board. 


XII 


The Arbitration Board is composed of three members, one selected by the 
employees, one selected by the employers and a third by these two. 

In the functioning of this plan the shop representatives have charge of com- 
plaints and organization matters within their shop. When a grievance arises 
in the shop it is reported to the shop representative who investigates it and 
takes it up with the shop superintendent and they try to reach a settlement. 
li no satisfactory solution can be reached the shop representative reports the 
matter to his deputy. Adjustments miade in this way are not binding on their 
principals and are subject to revision by the Trade Board. The shop repre- 
sentatives may also collect union dues and perform any other such union duties 
provided they are carried out in such a way as not to interfere with shop dis- 
cipline and efficiency. They are expected to promote amity and the cooperative 
spirit of the agreement. 

If a complaint is referred to the deputies it is their duty to investigate and 
try to reach a satisfactory settlement. They have power to investigate, mediate 
and adjust complaints and have power to summon and examine witnesses, to pre- 
sent testimony or evidence and do any other similar tasks as may be necessary 
to place their case before the trial body. They have access to any shop for 
the purpose of making an investigation. The statement of the chief deputy is 
regarded as an authoritative presentation of the position of his principal and 
unless reversed or modified by either of the trial boards, the agreement of the 
chief deputies in all matters over which they have authority must be observed 
by all parties. If the deputies are unable to agree on an adjustment they cer- 
tify the case to the Trade Board for trial. In making such certification the 
deputy appealing to the Board must file a statement giving specifically the nat- 
ure of the complaint. A copy of this statement is furnished to the representa- 
tive of the other party who is given at. least 24 hours to prepare his answer 
unless an emergency demands an immediate trial. In the event of an appeal to 
the Trade Board or Arbitration Board the deputies may represent their respec- 
tive principals before the Board. 

The Trade Board is the primary board for adjusting grievances arising be- 
tween the employes and the management. Complaints may be brought before 
it on appeal after action by the shop representatives and deputies or direct by 
either party without intervention of the shop representatives, or deputies. In 
the event of direct appeal a statement of the facts and grounds for such com- 
plaint must be filed in writing. All decisions of the Board must be rendered 
in writing and copies given to the representatives of each party. The Trade 
Board is authorized also to hear complaints from the union concerning the dis- 
cipline of its members and to take any action necessary to conserve the interests 
of the agreement. In case either party should desire to appeal from any decision 
of the Trade Board, or from any change of rules by the Trade Board to the 
Arbitration Board they have the right to do so upon filing a notice in writing 
with the Trade Board within 30 days from the date of the decision. The Trade 
Board will then certify the matter to the Arbitration Board. 

The Arbitration Board has full and final jurisdiction over all matters related 
to the agreement. It is the duty of the Board to investigate and mediate and 
adjudicate all matters brought before it. The practice developed leaves all ques- 
tions of fact and testimony mainly to the consideration of the Trade Board, 
while the Board of Arbitration concerns itself mainly with questions of principle 
and the application of the agreement to new issues as they arise. This is not 
considered as limiting the powers of the Arbitration Board which are broad 
enough to make it the judge of facts as well as principle when necessary. A 
majority decision of the Board is binding on all parties. ] 

During the latter part of 1918 and the early months of 1919 the union carried 
on an intensive organization campaign and by May had most of the clothing 
workers in the Chicago market enrolled, and it was possible then to insist upon 
agreements similar to the one in force in the Hart, Schaffner and Marx shops. 
Large independent manufacturers and the Wholesale Clothiers’ Association and 
the Wholesale Tailors’ Association had signed such agreements by the end of 
May of that year and the entire Chicago market began operating on a Pgh 
of joint government. The plan varying in details but similar in intent eae 
function has been adopted in other markets and a National _Federation 0 
Clothing Manufacturers has been organized to deal with the national organiza- 
tion of the workers, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. 


XITI 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


I. ECONOMIC, INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL QUESTIONS 


Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. 
Clothing Workers of Chicago, 1910-1922. 
Chicago Joint Board, 1922 
A comprehensive account of the history, organization and operation of one 


of the most advanced experiments in ‘the joint control of an industry by 
employers and their organized employes. 


American Academy of Political and Social Science. (Comp.) 
Ethics of the Professions and of Business. 
Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, May, 1922, 
Vol. CI, No. 190. 
A special issue of the Annals devoted to a selected RAneraitae of accounts 
of the attempts made by various business and professional groups to frame 
ethical standards looking toward social control. Of value in having gath- 


ered together the expressions of efforts in this transitional phase of de- 
velopment. 


Beard, Mary. 


A Short History of the American Labor Movement. 

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920, and The Worker’s Book Shelf. 
A brief and elementary substitute for the longer and more scholary work 
of Commons and Associates. 


Berridge, William Arthur. 
Cycles of Unemployment in the United States, 1903-1922. 
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923. 
A study, which in its original form won first prize from the Pollak Founda- 
tion for Economic Research, revised for publication as one of its series. 
The meagerness and unsatisfactory character of unemployment statistics, 
especially prior to 1914, made it necessary for the author to attempt to 
obtain a register of relative intensity only, the movements of unemployment 
above and below a norm, without reference to the actual numbers unem- 
ployed. It has laid a basis for further investigation and is a contribution 
to the study of the problem. 


Bing, Alexander M. 
Wartime Strikes and Their Adjustment. 
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1921 
A valuable account of the labor difficulties which occurred during the war, 
of the agencies created for their adjustment and of the principles which 
guided the endeavor to meet the emergency situation. 


Blankenhorn, Heber N. 
The Strike for Union. 
New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1924. 
A study of the problems involved in a strike for unionization in the coal 


fields, based on the history of the Somerset, Pennsylvania, strike of 1922- 
1923. 


Boeckel, Richard. 
Labor’s Money. 
New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1923. 
The first attempt to set forth in detail labor’s experiments in the conduct 
of banks. The book is of value in bringing to public attention the first 
three years’ accomplishments in this new field. 


XIV 


Bogart, Ernest Ludlow. 


Economic History of the United States. 
New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1922. 


A good background for understanding the present economic situation in 
this country. 


Budish, Jacob M. and Soule, George Henry. 


The New Unionism in the Clothing Industry. 

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920. 

A presentation of the progressive development of the unions in the various 
branches of the clothing industry toward the “new unionism,” of the ele- 


Sheers involved, the steps taken and the new emphases which mark the new 
trend. 


Carroll, Mollie Ray. 


Labor and Politics: the Attitude of the American Federation of Labor to- 
wards Legislation and Politics. 

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923. 

A careful study of one phase of the relation between labor and politics in 
the United States. Presents the relation of a specific industrial organization 
to politics and law and gives a comprehensive statement of the Federa- 
tion’s policy and a valuable discussion of the limitations of its program as 
judged by its own standards. 


Case, Clarence Marsh. 


Non-violent Coercion. 

New York: Century Co., 1923. 

A study of peaceful social pressure, discussing the two phases—the resist- 
ance of a group, like the conscientious objectors, to the attempts of society 
to force them into activities against their will, and of groups like the fol: 
lowers of Gandhi who attempt to work specific changes by non-violent 
coercion. 


Chenery, William L. 
Industry and Human Welfare. 
New York: Macmillan Co., 1922. 
A brief history of the development of American industry in relation to the 
welfare of the workers. 


Commons, John Rogers, and others. 
Industrial Government. 
New York: Macmillan Co., 1923. 
A popular presentation of the observations of a group which, under the 
direction of Professor Commons and financed by four Wisconsin employers, 
set out to examine some of the establishments which are experimenting 
with plans for employe representation. 


Commons, John Rogers, and others. 
History of Labor in the United States. 
New York: Macmillan Co., 1918. ; [svat 
Generally accepted as a standard history of American trade-unionism and 
other aspects of the labor movement in this country up to the war period. 


Commons, John Rogers and Andrews, John Bertram. 


Principles of Labor Legislation (Revised edition). 

New York: Harper Bros., 1920. 

The best single work on the relation of the law to labor and the problem 
of welfare and protective legislation in the United States. 


XV 


Commons, John Rogers (ed.) 


Trade Unionism and Labor Problems (second series) 

New York: Ginn & Co., 1921. 

One of the best standard works on this general subject in the United States. 
An excellent text book. 


Cowdrick, Edward S. 


Manpower in Industry. 

New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1924. 

A presentation of the principles of human relationship in industry and of 
some of the problems of personal administration. 


Douglas, Paul Howard, and others. 


The Worker in Modern Economic Society. 

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923. 

One of the best single volumes covering the whole range of labor and 
industry. A book of readings, well arranged, under the main headings— 
Human Nature and Industry, The Development of Economic Organization, 
The Worker in His Relation to the Market, Security and Risk, The Work- 
ers Approach to His Problems, The Employers’ Approach, the Commun- 
ities’ Approach. 


Edie, Lionel Danforth (ed.) 


Stabilization of Business. 

New York: Macmillan Co., 1923. 

A carefully selected series of articles by various authorities on different 
phases of the control of business cycles. It is suggestive and non-tech- 
nical in presentation. 


Federated American Engineering Societies. 


Waste in Industry. 

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1921. 

A detailed engineering study of the waste in- typical industries and the 
responsibilities for it. An enlightening book on an important phase of 
industry. 


Fitch, John A. 


The Causes of Industrial Unrest. 

New York: Harper & Bros., 1924. 

An examination, with the most recent statistics, of the situations that give 
rise to industrial unrest—wages, hours, unemployment, status of unions 
with employers and under the law, etc. 


French, Carroll Eiker. 


The Shop Committee in the United States. 

Baltimore, John Hopkins Press, 1923. 

A doctor’s thesis on the shop committee. It is a careful objective piece 
of work based largely on documentary sources and is of value in having 
gathered such sources together. 


Friday, David. 


Profits, Wages and Prices. 

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920. 

A presentation of the course of profits, wages and prices, with a doneigenne 
chapter on the possibilities of increasing real wages. 


XVI 


Goldmark, Josephine C. 


Fatigue and Efficiency. 
New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1912. 
The standard work on the relation between the fatigue of the worker and 


the quality and quantity of his output. It must be included because no 
recent book covers the field as does this work. 


Hamilton, Walton Hale and May, Stacy. 
The Control of Wages. 
New York: George H. Doran Co., 1923, and The Worker’s Book Shelf. 


A study of the sources from which wage increases may come, and action 
that might bring higher wages. 


Hoxie, Robert Franklin. 


Scientific Management and Labor. 

New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1915. 

The point of view of an economist, sympathetic with both trade unions and 
scientific management, on the conflict between them. The book is older 
Sie most of the volumes here listed but is valuable because of its point 
of view. 


Tohnsen, Julia E. 


Selected Articles on Government Ownership of Coal Mines. 

New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1923. 

Readings on the coal problem arranged as for a debate on government 
ownership. 


King, Wilford Isbell. 
Employment, Hours and Earnings in Prosperity and Depression, United 
States, 1920-22. vod 
New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1923. 
A valuable and comprehensive study of the effect of the economic cycle 
on employment and earnings. Covers by careful estimate fields for which 
data are not collected. Throws new light on several phasés of this impor- 
tant problem. 


Kirkconnell, Watson. 


International Aspects of Unemployment. 

New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1923. 

A presentation of the unemployment problem in its broadest phases, em- 
phasizing that unemployment cannot be successfully coped with on a local 
or national basis, and showing the ramifications that make it a world prob- 
lem. 


Klein, Philip. 
The Burden of Unemployment. 
New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1923. 
A study of the unemployment relief measures adopted in 15 American cities 
during the depression period of 1921-22. The second part of the volume 
deals with the use of employment statistics. 


Leiserson, William M. 
Adjusting Immigrant and Industry. 
New York: Harper Bros., 1924. 
A practical study of the relationship between the immigrant and our in- 
dustrial regime. The book is not doctrinaire, but treats the subject objec- 
tively. The author, well equipped for the task, is chairman of the Arbitra- 
tion Board in the New York and Rochester market of the clothing trade, 
an industry employing a high percent of foreign born workers. 


XVII 


Mitchell, Wesley Clair, and others. 


Income in the United States: its Amount and Distribution, 1909-1919, 
New York; National Bureau of Economic Research, 1921-22. 

An illuminating study of our national income. The text and its detailed 
tables give the best presentation of the amount and distribution of our 
national income which has yet been made. The subject is one difficult to 
treat in a satisfactory manner, because wholly adequate, comparable data 
are lacking. 


Myers, James. 


Representative Government in Industry. 

New York: George H. Doran Co., 1924. 

A presentation of experiments with shop committees and employe repre- 
sentation plans. The author is associated with one of the most interesting 
of such experiments. 


National Bureau of Economic Research. 


Business Cycles and Unemployment. 

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1923. 

A compendium of the points of view of numerous experts on various aspects 
of the prosperity-depression fluctuations. It is the most comprehensive 
compilation of discussions of this perplexing problem. 


National Industrial Conference Board. 


The Growth of Works Councils in the United States. 
Special Report Number 32, New York, 1925. 


Patten, Simon Nelson. 


Essays in Economic Theory. 

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1924. 

A valuable collection of suggestive essays on economic theory including 
the author’s two important monographs, The Theory of Dynamic Econo- 
mics and The Reconstruction of Economic Theory. 


Plumb, Glenn Edward and Roylance, W. G. 


Industrial Democracy: A Plan for its Achievement. 

New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1923. 

A discussion of the extension of the “Plumb Plan,” as originally proposed 
for the railroads, to all industry. 


Pound, Arthur. 


The Iron Man in Industry. 

Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922. 

A discussion of the effect of machine production on human beings. The 
whole is the presentation of the point of view of an observer rather than 
a scientific treatise. 


Savage, Marion Dutton. 


Industrial Unionism in America. 

New York: Ronald Press, 1922. 

A study of the three important phases of industrial unionism in America: 
(1) the tendencies toward industrial unionism of certain of the unions with- 
in the A. F. of L.; (2) revolutionary industrial unionism including workers 
all industries; (3) independent industrial unionism in an individual in- 
ustry. 


XVIII 


Seasonal Operation in the Construction Industries. 
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1924. 


The report, with recommendations, of a committee of the president’s Con- 
ference on Unemployment presenting methods for the solution of seasonal 
problems through specified cooperation of trades and professions vitally 
concerned in each locality—architects, engineers, bankers, contractors, 


erm a, dealers and producers, real estate men and building trades 
abor. 


Suffern, A. E. 


Conciliation and Arbitration in the Coal Industry of America. 
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1915. 
Though not a current book it is perhaps the best source of information for 


an understanding of the background of the long struggle for organization 
in the coal industry. 


Tugwell, Rexford, Guy (ed) 


The Trend of Economics. 

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1924. 

Papers by a dozen of the leading younger American economists, of the 
present trend in economic theory and practice. Some of them are a little 


technical, but the book is highly suggestive of the possible contributions of 
genuine economic science to social amelioration. 


Veblen, Thorstein. 


Absentee Ownership and Business Enterprise in Recent Times. 

New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1923. 

Traces the origin and evolution of our present-day group life and activities 
as centered in and influenced by the practice of absentee ownership of in- 
dustrial equipment and its credit economy, and the effect of this absentee 
control over the lives and affairs of the classes of people making up the 
group. He then endeavors to probe future trends. 


Veblen, Thorstein. 


The Engineers and the Price System. 
New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1921. 


An exposition of the opposition between productive efficiency and the 
modern commercial system. Its chief lack is quantitative evidence. 


Warbasse, James Peter. 


Cooperative Democracy. 

New York: Macmillan Co., 1923. : 

A presentation of the Rochdale principle of consumers’ cooperation made by 
an author writing as a pleader for this form of organization. Of value in 
so far as it states the Rochdale principle for those not familiar with its 
tenets. 


Zimand, Savel. 


Modern Social Movements. 


New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1921. ' ; 
A descriptive hand book of the various social and economic movements in 
the modern world, with extensive bibliography. 


XIX 


IN PREPARATION 


National Bureau of Economic Research. 


Growth of American Trade Unions from 1880 to 1920. 

Will give comparative trade union membership statistics year by year; and 
will show which industries are most highly organized, which least; which 
unions are increasing in membership, which are decreasing; proportion of 
total gain fully employed belonging to trade unions; number of women 
enrolled in trade unions; whether women’s unions are increasing or de- 
creasing; in which industries women’s unions are most active; and the 
extent of organization among “professional workers.” 


TI iCHURCHCAND INDUS TARY, 


Coffin, Henry Sloane. 


A More Christian Industrial Order. 
New York: Macmillan Co., 1920. 


A popular discussion of Christian principles in industry, by a prominent 
preacher. 


Committee on the War and the Religious Outlook. 


The Church and Industrial Reconstruction. 

New York: Association Press, 1920. 

The best summary that has been made of the Christian ideal for society, 
the un-Christian aspects of the present industrial order and giving a crit- 
ical view of the Christian attitude toward the present system, its failures 
and their ramifications, and throwing light upon some of the steps that 
may be taken toward a more Christian order. 


Douglass, H. Paul. 


From Survey to Service. 


New York: Council of Women for Home Missions and Missionary Educa- 
tion Movement, 1921. 


A mission study volume on the work of the church for industrial groups. 


Eddy, Sherwood. 


The New World of Labor. 

New York: George H. Doran Co., 1923. 

A bird’s-eye-view of trends in the realm of labor subsequent to the war, 
as noted by the author while making a trip around the world in 1922-1923. 
The work is not exhaustive, could not be, under the circumstances, but in 
a popular presentation it gives the reader a glimpse of some significant 
trends in the various countries visited. 


Ellwood, Charles A. 


The Reconstruction of Religion. 
New York: Macmillan Co., 1922. 


A discussion of the church and social problems from the viewpoint of 
social science. 


Husslein, Joseph. 


Work, Wealth and Wages. 

Chicago: Matre & Co., 1921. 

A discussion of the application of Christian principles to modern social and 
industrial questions, from the Catholic point of view 


X¥ 


i 


Interchurch World Movement. 


Report on the Steel Strike of 1919. 

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920. 

A volume unique in its plan to present all the phases and contributory 
factors of a single strike as assembled and studied by persons not par- 


ticipating in the conflict. It is the only volume devoted to a study of one 
strike in the United States. 


Public Opinion and the Steel Strike. 


New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1921. 

Supplementary reports of some of the investigators who did the field work 
for the original report on the steel strike. Each of the supplementary 
reports in this volume treats of one special problem, including: under-cover 
men, the Pittsburg newspapers and the strike, civil rights in Western Penn- 
sylvania, the mind of immigrant communities, welfare work of the U. S. 
Steel Corporation, the Pittsburg pulpit and the strike, the steel report and 
public opinion. 


Johnson, F. Ernest and Holt, Arthur E. 


Christian Ideals in Industry. 

New York: Methodist Book Concern, 1924. 

A book prepared primarily for young people’s and adult classes in church 
schools. It seeks to lead the reader in questioning what the principles of 
a Christian industrial order actually mean in terms of the daily conduct of 
industry. This is its aim rather than either the statement of the principles 
themselves or the laying down of rules for the solution of specific indus- 
trial problems. 


Johnson, F. Ernest and Ryan, John A. (eds.) 


Industrial Relations and the Churches. 

The Annals. American Academy of Political and Social Science, Phila- 
delphia, September 1922. 

This issue of the Annals is devoted to discussions of industrial relations 
and the churches. The problems of industrial conflict are stated and dis- 
cussed by men in first-hand touch with some phase of the problem. In like 
manner the social functions of industry are presented and discussed. Then 
the church’s duty in relation to industry is discussed by religious leaders of 
the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faiths, and by employers, employes, 
ministers and laymen. The final section is devoted to statements on the 
industrial programs of various religious bodies. The discussion is of value 
in assembling a wide range of opinion on this subject. 


Page, Kirby (ed.) 


Christianity and Economic Problems. 
New York: Association Press, 1922. 
This is the second volume of the Social Problem Discussion Series. It 
contains a running text drawn from various sources giving information on 
the point under discussion. At the end of each chapter questions for 
thought and discussion are listed. 


Ranschenbusch, Walter. 


Christianity and the Sociai Crisis. 

New York: Macmillan Co., 1911. 

One of the most important of the pre-war discussions of the church and 
social problems, by an outstanding exponent of social Christianity. The first 
section of the book sketches the historical aspects of the question, while 
the body of the volume discusses the challenge of modern conditions. 


XX1 


Ryan, John A. and Husslein, Joseph (eds.) 


The Church and Labor. 
New York: Macmillan Co., 1920. 
An important collection of Catholic documents on labor questions. 


Ryan, John A. 


Social Reconstruction. A 

New York: Macmillan Co., 1920. 

A volume of lectures discussing the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Program of 
Social Reconstruction by the Director of the Social Action Department of 
the National Catholic Welfare Conference. 


Ward, Harry F. 


The New Social Order. 

New York: Macmillan Co., 1922. 

Against the background of the conviction “that a new order of social living 
is necessary for both the practical and the spiritual interests of humanity,” 
the author discusses the nature and principles of this new order and the 
programs for a new order which have emerged from various quarters in- 
cluding the pronouncements on social ethics emanating from many religious 
bodies. It is valuable to have these programs gathered together for pur- 
poses of comparison, evaluation and the light they throw upon trends of 
thought. 


Ward, Harry F. 


The Profit Motive. 

New York: League for Industrial Democracy, 1924. 

An analysis of the profit motive showing its weaknesses, and discussing 
other more valid motives. 


ili, ENGLISH BOOKS * 


Askwith, Sir G. R. 


Industrial Problems and Disputes. 

London: Murray, 1920. 

A large book reviewing the experiences of one of the most prominent 
British labor mediators and arbitrators. Full of wisdom and stimulation. 


Clay, Henry. 


Economics, an Introduction for the General Reader. 

New York: Macmillan Co., 1920. 

One of the best and most readable treatments of general economics from 
the point of view of a liberal, though not a radical, economist. A good 
basis for those who have not had recent training in economic theory. 


Cole, G. D.’H. 


Workshop Organization. 

London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1923. 

Presents valuable documents illustrating the constitution and functions of 
works committees and shop stewards and suggestive material relating to 
the practice of democratic methods of industrial administration. Its chief 
value lies, as the author says, in the material it affords for a study “of the 
response of the working class to changes in its economic environment.” 


XXII 


ap 


Hobson, John A. 
The Evolution of Modern Capitalism (new edition) 
New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1913. 
Though older than the other books considered for this list it must be in- 
cluded as the standard work on this subject. It is a study by the noted 
economist of the growth of modern capitalistic institutions and of its 
meaning. 


Robertson, Dennis Holme. 
The Control of Industry. 
New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1923. 
A brief, clear discussion of the necessity and possibility of the control of 
industry for social purposes. 


Russell, Bertrand. 
Proposed Roads to Freedom. 
New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1919. 
Description and evaluation of the various programs for economic and social 
change. . 


Tawney, Richard Henry. 
The Acquisitive Society. 
New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1920. 
A brilliant plea from ethical and economic standpoints, for a society based 
upon service rather than profit. One of the most challenging and discerning 
indictments of capitalism. 


Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 
Industrial Democracy (revised edition) 
New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1920. 
The standard study of the operation of trade unionism in England, and of 
its problems. 


Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 
History of Trade Unionism (revised edition) 
New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1920. 
The standard history of British trade-unionism. 


Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 
A Constitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain. 
New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1920. 
A carefully presented outline of a possible future society resting on public 
ownership, cooperation, and industrial democracy in private enterprise. 


Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 
The Consumers’ Cooperative Movement. 
London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1921. : 
The best single study, sympathetic but critical, of consumers’ cooperation 
in Great Britain. 


Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 
Decay of Capitalist Civilization. 


London: Allen & Unwin, 1923. 
An indictment of capitalism in all its forms and phases, presented from 


two standpoints—moral and economic. 


*These English books are listed here because they have become a 
recognized part of American economic thought. 


X XIII 
































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